Because standing across from her bed, on what should have been the happiest day of her life, were the four people who had just destroyed it: her husband Daniel, his parents Eleanor and Richard, and the woman who had replaced her—Vanessa.
Vanessa looked ready for a gala, not a maternity ward. Diamond earrings caught the harsh lights, her smile polished and cruel. On her finger gleamed Isabella’s wedding ring.
“Sign it,” Eleanor snapped, tossing documents onto Isabella’s lap. “You’ve taken enough from this family.”
Daniel stared at the floor, silent.
Isabella looked from the divorce papers to her crying baby. “What… is this?” she whispered.
“It’s your exit,” Eleanor sneered. “You trapped our son with a pregnancy. But it ends today. Daniel belongs with Vanessa.”
Vanessa stepped forward, lifting her hand. “He chose me,” she said softly. “He gave me the ring last week.”
She unlocked her phone. Photos filled the screen—kissing in restaurants, holding hands in Rome, tangled in hotel sheets.
Isabella’s blood ran cold.
“Sign,” Richard barked. “Take fifty thousand dollars and disappear. The baby stays.”
Isabella clutched Mateo. “You’re not taking my son.”
Eleanor reached anyway.